A public opinion poll published Sunday shows that a substantial majority of Israelis oppose early national elections, but if they were to be held, the Labor Party would clearly defeat Likud.
The poll, conducted by the Dahaf Institute, found a 63-35 percent majority favors continuation of the unity coalition government. Two percent had no opinion.
In the event of early elections, however, Labor would win 47 Knesset mandates compared to the 40 it presently holds. Likud would win 36 seats, compared to its current 41 seats. The rightwing Tehiya Party would win six Knesset seats, one more than it has in the present Knesset, and the leftist Citizens Rights Movement (CRM) would increase from four to five seats. The religious bloc would remain unchanged: The five Orthodox parties have a combined total of 13 seats in the 120-member Knesset.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
